Hello everyone and welcome to the council meeting for November 17th. I'll call the meeting to order and ask the clerk if she will call the roll please. I will, but I would like to say to the council tonight in front of you is the new format of the new docket. And we haven't transitioned to it tonight, but that is a draft, and I wanted to share that with you all. And also on your voting screens, you will notice on your agenda you will have access to more attachments tonight. And so, you know, play around with that some. But if you have any questions at the end of the night or anything, please make sure you ask me or Meredith tomorrow. And it's pretty exciting. So, Ms. Crosby. Mr. Ellinger? Here. Mr. Farmer? Yes, ma'am. Mr. Ford? Here. Ms. Gorton? Here. Ms. Henson? Here. Mr. Kay? Here. Mr. Lane? Here. Ms. Lawless? Here. Mr. Martin? Here. Mr. McCord? Here. Mr. Myers? Here. Mr. Sennett? Yes, ma'am. Mr. Beard? Present. And Mr. Blues? Here. Thank you. Thank you, Susan. Tonight our invocation will be offered by Reverend Bill McDonald. Reverend McDonald, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for the invitation. For those who wish and who will, let us pray together. Lord God, who sees the urban and the ultimate, As the airplane circles to land at Bluegrass Field, the city comes into view with its streets and trees, its lights and lanes, its traffic and neighborhoods. And though we think at that moment that we have a comprehensive view of this place we call Lexington, we are in reality seeing only the shell. For inside that shell, our city county is a living, breathing organism made up of people's needs, individuals' interrelationships, humans' hopes, denizens' dreams. Plunge further into our pulsating city and we discover that it's a human-gathered organism composed of God-made parts. And so, Lord God, give to this city council and to all the city's citizens the insight to see Lexington in all its depth. Not just the mechanism, but the personage. Not just the facade, but the faces. For it is in serving one another that we serve you. Amen. Thank you, Bill. Thanks so much for joining us tonight. We have one presentation tonight, but before that, I'm going to ask Council Member Martin if he will welcome our special guests. Thank you, Mayor. We have tonight with us Boy Scouts from Troop 279 from the south side of Lexington. And my own son is in the troop, and we welcome them to this evening. We had a little bit of, the mayor got to show them his office and talk a little bit about government. And we appreciate them being here tonight. Thanks guys for joining us tonight. Okay, I have a special proclamation tonight to recognize Lee Kiefer Day. We all know that we've got a lot of special, talented people in Lexington, and today I'm happy to recognize one of them, Lee Kiefer. Lee is a senior at Dunbar and is ranked number one in the whole U.S. of A and number six in the world in the sport of fencing. She won a gold medal at the 2011 Pan American Games in October and took home the bronze at the Senior World Championships. And just last weekend, she won the gold at North America Cup. And so did her younger brother, Alex Kiefer. So we're all proud to welcome Lee with us this evening, and I'd like to officially proclaim today, November 17, 2011, as Lee Kiefer Day. Lee? Thank you. Thank you. All right. Susan, are you ready? Okay, Madam Clerk, would you give us a second reading of ordinances? Ordinance number one, an ordinance amending certain of the budgets of the Lexington-Fade-Urban County Government to reflect current requirements for municipal expenditures in appropriating and reappropriating funds, Schedule No. 43. No. 2, an ordinance approving the Department of General Services' policies and procedures for usage of all facility space owned by the Lexington-Fade Urban County Government, expressing the Urban County Council's authority to review and approve approval of all leases and subleases and authorizing the Department of General Services to manage the leased facilities, providing that all the tenants shall pay rent and enter into a standard lease for use of facilities owned by Lexington Fayette-Urban County Government, providing that the stated rental amount for all facilities shall be fair market value, providing that all tenants shall pay their operating expenses including but not limited to utilities, insurance, maintenance, janitorial services, and repairs, providing that the Urban County Council shall consider grants and subsidies to tenants in the annual budgeting process and providing that all leases expire on the same date. Number three, an ordinance submitting Section 2152 of the Code of Ordinances, creating one position of safety specialist, Grade 115E, and creating one position of administrative specialist, senior, Grade 112N, in the Division of Waste Management. Thank you. Second. Second. It's a motion by Council Member Ellinger, seconded by Vice Mayor Gordon to approve. Is there any discussion on the motion? All right. If hearing none, then will Madam Clerk please call the roll. Ms. Crosby is absent. Mr. Ellinger? Yes. Mr. Farmer? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Gorton? Aye. Ms. Henson? Yes. Mr. Kay? Yes. Mr. Lane? Yes. Ms. Lawless? Yes. Mr. Martin? Yes. Mr. McCord? Yes. Mr. Myers? Yes. Mr. Stenet? Yes, ma'am. Mr. Beard? Aye. And Mr. Blues? Yes. All right. Thank you. The vote reflects passage of the motion. When you're ready, Madam Clerk, please give us the first reading. Ordinances. Thank you. Ordinance number four, an ordinance admitting certain of the budgets of the Lexington Bay Urban County Government to reflect current requirements for municipal expenditures in appropriating and reappropriating funds, Schedule No. 45. No. 5, an ordinance declaring portions of sidewalks in Hamburg Place Community Phase 1 and Phase 2 of Shetland Subdivision that have been dedicated to LFUCG as public right-of-ways and accepting the dedication. No. 6, an ordinance closing the right-of-way located between the properties at 444 Fayette Park and 503 Willie Street, determining that all property owners abutting the portion of the walkway to be closed have been identified, provided with written notice of the proposed closing and consented thereto in writing and authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute a quick claim deed transferring the former right-of-way to the abetting owner subject to the reservation of easements for access and maintenance of existing utilities in the former right-of-way. Number seven, an ordinance amending Section 21-5-2 of the Code of Ordinances abolishing one position of director of litigation, Grade 123E, and amending Section 22-5-2 of the Code of Ordinances creating two positions of attorney, Grade 117E from the date of passage to December 31, 2015, all in the Department of Law. Number 8, an ordinance expanding and extending the full Urban Services District. Number 1 to provide street lighting, street cleaning, and garbage and refuse collection to include the area defined as certain properties on the following streets. Calypso, Breeze Drive, Carducci Street, Coroneo Lane, Falling Leaves Lane, Firethorn Place, Golden Bell Place, Greenville Terrace, Gray Leg Way, Hardwood Road, Kiowa Drive, Magnolia Gardens Place, Polo Club Boulevard, Sandhurst Cove, Seneca Park, Sir Barton Way, Sperling Drive, Sunflower Street, T. Olive Way, and Town Square Park. Number nine, an ordinance expanding and extending partial urban services district. Number three for the Irvine County Government for the provision of garbage and refuse collection to include the areas defined as certain properties on the following streets. Blue Bonnet Court, Blue Bonnet Drive, Golden Trophy Trail, Waveland Museum Lane, and Winthrop Drive. Number 10, an ordinance expanding and extending partial urban services district. Number 5, for the urban county government for the provision of garbage and refuse collection and street lighting. To include the areas defined as certain properties on the following streets, Albany Road, Albemarle Road, and Halifax Court. Number 11, an ordinance submitting ordinance number 218-2010, 2010 expanding and extending partial urban services district number 5 to remove certain properties on Spring Hill Drive and changing the urban service district's on said properties back to the urban services district number 2 and urban services district number 4 respectively to correct a clerical error. Thank you. Thank you Madam Clerk. Are there any motions? Mr. Stenet. Thank you Mayor. On number 5 I would move that we suspend the rules and give this second reading. This has to do with the letter of credit that expires at the end of this month. And if we don't pass it, then they'll have to renew it for another month, which we don't have another council meeting until December 1st. Second. There's a motion by Mr. Stenet, second by Council Member Beard. That was number five, for those of you. On number five? Yeah. All right. Is there any discussion? All right. Hearing none, you can take a vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, no. Motion carries. All right. Thank you, sir. Madam Clerk. Ordinance number five for second reading. An ordinance declaring portions of sidewalks in Hamburg Place Community Phase 1 and Phase 2 of Shetland subdivision that have been dedicated to LFUCG as public right of ways and accepting the dedication. All right. Motion approved. Second. Motion by Council Member Ellinger. Second by Council Member Myers. Is there any discussion? All right. Hearing none, Madam Clerk. Mr. Ellinger? Yes. Mr. Farmer? Yes, ma'am. Mr. Ford? Yes. Ms. Gorton? Aye. Ms. Henson? Yes. Mr. Kay? Yes. Mr. Lane? Yes. Ms. Lawless? Yes. Mr. Martin? Yes. Mr. McCord? Yes. Mr. Myers? Yes. Mr. Stinnett. Mr. Beard. Aye. And Mr. Blues. Yes. Thank you. The vote reflects passage of the motion. When you're ready, Madam Clerk. You're quick on your feet tonight. Resolution number one for second reading. A resolution accepting the bid of Staples contract and Amp Commercial Incorporated operating as Staples Advantage, establishing a price contract for office supplies for all departments and divisions of Lexington-Fade, Urban County Government. Number two, a resolution accepting the bid of Advanced Mulching Technologies, Inc., doing business as Eco-Gro in the amount of $90,827.80 for the McConnell's Trace Greenways Restoration Project for the Division of Engineering and authorizing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute an agreement with Advanced Mulching Technologies, Inc., doing business as Eco-Gro related to the bid. Number three, a resolution accepting the bids of Municipal Equipment Incorporated, Central Indiana Truck Equipment Corporation, Refuse Parts Depot, LLC, EZPAC Manufacturing, LLC, establishing price contracts for refuse collection truck parts for the Division of Facility and Fleet Management. Number four, a resolution accepting the bid of Republic Services of Kentucky, LLC, establishing a price contract for transportation of leaf and yard waste for the Division of Waste Management. Number five, a resolution ratifying the probationary civil service appointment of Gerald Parker, trade supervisor, grade 113N, 25.013, hourly in the Division of Parks and Recreation, effective November 7, 2011, ratifying the probationary sworn appointments of Clayton Roberts, police lieutenant, grade 317E, 302514, biweekly in the Matthew Great House, police sergeant, grade 315 N, 28.588 hourly. Todd Phillips, Police Sergeant, grade 315 N, 28.588 hourly. In the Division of Police, effective upon passage of council. Number six, a resolution authorizing the Mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute an agreement with Bluegrass Community Action Partnership, Inc., $925 for the office of the Urban County Council at a cost not to exceed the sum stated. Number seven, a resolution expressing the intent of the Urban County Government to accept Derby Landing into public right of way upon return of the amended subdivision plan with signatures of property owners and recording of the plan. Number eight, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute change order number two to the contract with Morelia Design and Construction for the Lexington Streetscape Phase 1 Bind Street Project, increasing the contract price by the sum of $14,771.75 from $1,764,083.82 to $1,778,855.57. Number nine, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute and submit a grant application to the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet to provide any additional information requested in connection with this grant application and to accept this grant if the application is approved. which grant funds are in the amount of $138,921.33 Commonwealth of Kentucky funds are for continuation of the litter abatement program, the acceptance of which does not obligate the urban county government for the expense of funds and authorizing the mayor to later transfer unencumbered funds within the grant budget. Number 10, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to accept a grant from the Kentucky Department of Military Affairs Division of Emergency Management, which grant funds in the amount of $119,108.21 federal funds for the support of emergency preparedness activities in the Lexington Fayette County, the acceptance of which obligates the urban county government for the expenditure of $119,108.21 as a local match and authorizing the mayor to transfer unencumbered funds within the grant budget. Number 11, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the Irvin County Government to execute a group sales agreement with Hyatt Regency Lexington for 2012 Bluegrass Invitational Tournament at a cost not to exceed $2,500. Number 12, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the Irvin County Government to execute facility usage agreements with various youth football baseball leagues for youth baseball. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Is there a motion to approve the resolutions? Second. Motion by Council Member Beard. Second by Vice Mayor Gorton. Is there any discussion on the motion? All right. Hearing none, Madam Clerk, would you call the roll, please? Most certainly. Mr. Ellinger? Yes. Mr. Farmer? Yes, ma'am. Mr. Ford? Yes. Ms. Gorton? Aye. Ms. Henson? Yes. Mr. K. Yes. Mr. Lane. Yes. Ms. Lawless. Yes. Mr. Martin. Yes. Mr. McCord. Yes. Mr. Myers. Yes. Mr. Stinnett. Yes, ma'am. Mr. Beard. Aye. And Mr. Blues. Yes. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Madam Clerk. The vote reflects passage of the motion. When you're ready, go ahead with Madam Clerk with first reading resolutions. And if you'll stop at number, the Vice Mayor has a comment on number 20. Before 20, please. Thank you. No problem. Number 13, a resolution accepting the bid of Lagco Incorporated in the amount of $426,040 for the Black and Amp Williams Center Energy Efficiency Improvements for the Division of Environmental Policy and authorizing the mayor on behalf of the Irvin County Government to execute any necessary agreement with Lagco Incorporated related to the bid. Number 14, a resolution accepting the bids of Rhythm Engineering, LLC, Iron Armor, LLC, Signal Control Products, Inc., and Pathmaster, Inc., establishing price contracts for adaptive traffic signal and a control equipment for the Division of Traffic Engineering. Number 15, a resolution accepting the bid of Lexpress, establishing a price contract for waste management newsletters for the Division of Waste Management. Number 16, a resolution authorizing the Division of Human Resources to make a conditional offer to the following. Michelle Long, Records Management Analyst, Grade 111N, 17.500 hourly, in the Council Clerk's Office, effective upon passage of counsel. Number 17, a resolution ratifying the Probationary Civil Service appointments of Winona Embry, Payroll Manager, Grade 119E, 258696, biweekly in the Division of Accounting, effective December 7, 2011, and Karen Beatty, Administrative Specialist Senior, Grade 112N, 22.213 hourly, in the Division of Traffic Engineering, effective November 21, 2011, ratifying the permanent civil service appointment of Connie Hayes, Staff Assistant Senior, in the Division of Purchasing, effective July 17, 2011. Number 18, a resolution accepting the response of Denham Blythe Company, Inc., to bid number 100-2011, and authorizing the Mayor on behalf of the Lexington-Fedron County Government to execute a lease agreement with Denham Blythe Company, Incorporated for a period of three years for space located at 100 Trade Street, Lexington, Kentucky, to be used as a wellness center for an amount not to exceed $7,877.40 per month plus utilities. Number 19, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute an agreement with the Humanitarium, $475 for the office of the urban county council at a cost not to exceed the sum stated. Thanks, Mayor. Yes, thank you, Mayor. As you all know, Council Members No. 20 is the resolution supporting the bluegrass economic advancement movement. And this is a – I want to thank all of you because this is a historic moment. Right now, tonight, the Louisville Metro Council is passing their resolution. and we have worked on this jointly to support the BEAM effort. And President Jim King, who presides over the Louisville Metro Council, sent a quote that he asked me to read, and I sent a quote over to him. And so he says, We are proud to have partnered with Vice Mayor Gorton and the Lexington Fayette Urban County Council on this historic resolution. The BEAM initiative is a dynamic economic strategy for our entire Commonwealth, and the simultaneous passage of this joint resolution and legislation stands as a clear symbol of both Council's commitment to forging a successful partnership to take on the challenge of creating quality jobs for our region and our Commonwealth. On behalf of my colleagues on the Louisville Metro Council, I'm honored to join the Lexington-Fayette-Urban County Council in bringing this resolution to passage tonight. And this is from Council President Jim King. And they will be having first and second readings, and we will also ask for a second reading. Thank you. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Madam Clerk. Yes, sir. Number 20, a resolution of the Lexington-Fayette-Arm County Council simultaneously and jointly with the Louisville Metro Council endorsing and supporting the Bluegrass Economic Advancement Movement and urging members of the Lexington-Fayette County and Jefferson County communities to fully participate in the project and to use this as an opportunity to further the collective goals of both cities as economic engines of all of Kentucky and to provide economic and educational opportunities to its citizens. 21. A resolution authorizing the Mayor, the Fire Chief, and the Director of the Division of Emergency Management 911, on behalf of the Urban County Government and pursuant to KRS Chapter 39F, to execute a statement of affiliation pertaining to the establishment and designation of the Urban County Government's Division of Fire and Emergency Services Special Operations Technical Rescue Team as the recognized rescue squad for Fayette County at no cost to the Urban County Government. Mr. Fronten, excuse us. Madam Clerk. Council Member Wallace. I have a question on this one. Are we talking about Dean, the Division of Emergency, Ms. Duggar? I believe you are. It's my understanding that she's the one. If you're asking whether it's Mr. Lucas versus her shop, it's her shop. Okay, thank you. Are you talking about the designation of the rescue squad? That's a function within the Division of Fire and Emergency Services. This is just a designation resolution. But I think it's technically – if you're concerned that it's going due to Division of 911, the answer is no. I think that DEAM technically processes it on behalf of the fire department. Right. All right. Go ahead. Thank you. Number 21. I see. I read 21. Number 22. A resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute change order number two to the contract with Woodall Construction Company, Incorporated for the Lexington Streetscape Phase I Improvements East Main Street Streetscape Project, increasing the contract price by the sum of $60,601.05 from $2,646,542.45 to $2,707,143.50. 23. A resolution authorizing the Mayor on behalf of the Irvin County Government to execute Change Order No. 3 to the contract with Woodall Construction Company, Inc. for the Lexington Streetscape Phase I Improvements East Main Street Streetscape Project, increasing the contract price by the sum of $55,938.35, from $2,707,143,50 to $2,763,081.85. 24, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute change order number 2 to the contract with Charles DeWeese Construction for the Lexington Streetscape Phase 1 West Main Street project decreasing the contract price by this sum of $3,272.25 from $1,930,561.75 to $1,927,289.50. Twenty-five, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute change order number two to the contract with Woodall Construction Company, Incorporated for the construction of Clay's Mill Road Improvements Project Section 2A, increasing the contract price by the sum of $23,405.43 from $3,611,285.52 to $3,634,690.95. Twenty-six, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute a regulator easement and right-of-way agreement with Columbia Gas of Kentucky, Incorporated, granting a pipeline easement. Twenty-seven, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute a paramedic training program agreement with Jessamine County Emergency Medical Service for paramedic training at no cost to the urban county government. 28. A resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute an agreement with AdSuccess for the Mobility Office Marketing Campaign for FY2012 at a cost not to exceed $44,400. 29. A resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute an amendment to agreement with AMEC Environment and Infrastructure, Inc. formerly known as AMIC Earth and Environmental Incorporated, for additional brownfield site assessment services at a cost not to exceed an additional $246,430. Number 30, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the Irvin County Government to execute change order number two, final, to the contract with Morelia Design and Construction for the Maxwell Street sidewalk and bike lane project, increasing the contract price by the sum of $52,480.53, from $308,438.21 to $360,918.74. 31. A resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to accept a grant from the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security, which grant funds are in the amount of $267,609 federal funds are for the continuation of the Metropolitan Medical Response System, the acceptance of which does not obligate the urban county government for the expenditure of funds and authorizing the mayor to transfer unencumbered funds within the grant budget. 32. A resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute and submit a grant application to the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management, Department of Military Affairs, to provide any additional information requested in connection with this grant application and to accept this grant if the application is approved, which grant funds are in the amount of $8,000 Commonwealth of Kentucky funds and are for the purchase of equipment for the Dive Water Rescue Program, the acceptance of which does not obligate the urban county government for the expenditure of funds and authorizing the mayor to transfer and convert funds within the grant budget. 33. A resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to accept four grants from the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security, which grant funds are in the amount of $360,800 federal funds under the 2011 State Homeland Security Grant Program are for the purchase of special operations, hazardous materials, and technical rescue equipment, $121,000, a specialized training class for HAZMAT units, $23,800, the purchase of equipment for the hazardous devices unit, $161,000, and training and dynamic entry for the Kentucky Explosive Incident Response Task Force, $55,000, and accepting of which does not obligate the urban county government for the expenditure of funds and authorizing the mayor to transfer unencumbered funds within the grant budget. Number 34, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute and submit a grant application to the Kentucky Board of Emergency Medical Services to provide any additional information requested in connection with this grant application and to accept this grant if the application is approved, which grant funds are in the amount of $11,000 Commonwealth of Kentucky funds and are for the purchase of EMS equipment, the acceptance of which does not obligate the Lexington-Fade Urban County Government for the expenditure of funds in authorizing the mayor to transfer unencumbered funds within the grant budget. Thirty-five, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute a statement of work and master services agreement with Global Compliance Services Incorporated for installation and administration of the fraud tip line at a cost not to exceed $5,175. Thirty-six, a resolution ratifying the Department of Law's execution of a settlement agreement, stipulation, and recommendation in Public Service Commission Case No. 2011-00161 pertaining to approval of KU environmental surcharge recovery. Thirty-seven, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the Irwin County Government to execute a facility usage contract with Fayette County Board of Education for use of Winburn Middle School gymnasium at a cost not to exceed $285.05. Thirty-eight, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the Irvin County Government to execute a lease agreement with the Pilgrim Baptist Church for parking at a cost not to exceed $1,000. Thirty-nine, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the Irvin County Government to execute a National Safety Council, DDC, private sub-agency training agreement with the Tennessee Regional Safety Council, Incorporated, establishing the Division of Risk Management as an authorized agent to teach training programs to employees at an annual cost not to exceed $55. Number 40, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute an agreement with Savis Solutions LLC for the purchase and maintenance of a data collection program for the senior center at a cost not to exceed $7,500. And number 41, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute an engineering services agreement with Hazen and Sawyer, PSC, to provide for sanitary sewer capacity management operations and maintenance program deliverables for consent decree implementation at a cost not to exceed $287,500. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Vice Mayor Gordon. Yes, Mayor. I move to suspend the rules and give number 20 second reading. Motion by Vice Mayor Gordon. Second by Council Member Blues on number 20. Is there any discussion? Okay. All in favor? Council Member Henson? Okay. Not on this one. Okay. All in favor of the motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Okay. Are there any other motions to suspend the rules? Council Member Henson? My monitor is not working, Mayor. I would like to suspend the rules and give a second reading to number 18. It's critical that we move forward with this to have something in place as soon as possible. Second. It's motioned by Council Member Henson, seconded by Council Member McCord. Is there any discussion? Okay. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Council Member Beard. Mayor, I got preempted by Council Member Henson. That's the one I wanted to get a second reading on, but that's fine, just as long as we get it done. Got it done. All right, sir. Mayor. Mayor. Mr. Balbury. Yes, Mayor. There's a couple of requests on behalf of the administration. The first one is your standard HR, where we make a conditional offer, and that would be number 16. And then I didn't know whether Mr. McCord was interested in moving number 25 along on the clays mill. Yeah, I was waiting for that one, but that's... And then on behalf of the Department of Law, we would request two readings on number 36 because you all don't meet again for a couple weeks. And I had prepared information for you all in light of the discussion that took place Tuesday. I don't know if you want me to present that publicly or not, but I'm certainly happy to do that if you all would like that type of information given to the public before you all vote on that. That was 16? It's 16, 25, and 36, which is the settlement. All right. Is there a motion? Motion to approve those or second reading on those. A motion by Council Member McCord, second by Council Member Ellinger. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, then we can take a vote. All in favor, please indicate this saying aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. All right. Any others? All right. Okay. Madam Clerk, give a second read for us. Thank you. Most certainly. Number 16. Number 16 for second reading, a resolution authorizing the Division of Human Resources to make a conditional offer to the following. Michelle Long, Records Management Analyst, Grade 111. 17.500 hourly in the Council Clerk's Office, effective upon passage of Council. Number 18, a resolution accepting the response of Denham Blythe, Inc., to bid number 100-2011 and authorizing the Mayor on behalf of the Lexington-Fedden-Irban County Government to execute a lease agreement with Denham Blythe Company, Inc., for a period of three years for space, located at 100 Trade Street, Lexington, Kentucky, to be used as a wellness center for an amount not to exceed $7,877.40 per month plus utilities. Number 20, a resolution of the Lexington Fayette-Irvin County Council simultaneously and jointly with the Louisville Metro Council endorsing and supporting the Bluegrass Economic Advancement Movement and urging members of the Lexington Fayette County and Jefferson County communities to fully participate in the project and to use this as an opportunity to further the collective goals of both cities as economic engines for all of Kentucky and to provide economic and educational opportunities to its citizens. Number 25. A resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the Oregon County Government to execute change order number 2 to the contract with Woodall Construction Company, Inc. for the construction of Clay's Mill Road Improvements Project, Section 2A, increasing the contract price by the sum of $23,405.43 from $3,611,285.52 to $3,634,690.95. And number 36. Oops. A resolution ratifying the Department of Law's execution of a settlement agreement, stipulation and recommendation in Public Service Commission Case No. 2011-00161 pertaining to approval of KU environmental surcharge recovery. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Second. Motion by Councilman Reilinger to approve. Second by Councilman Myers. Is there any discussion? Okay. Hearing none, Madam Clerk. Please call the roll. Mr. Ellinger. Yes. Mr. Farmer. Yes, ma'am. Mr. Ford. Yes. Ms. Gorton. Aye. Ms. Henson. Yes. Mr. Kay. Yes. Mr. Lane. Yes. Ms. Lawless. Yes. Mr. Martin. Yes. Mr. McCord. Yes. Mr. Myers. Yes. Mr. Stenet. Mr. Beard. Aye. And Mr. Blues. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Clerk. All right. Next, communication for the mayor for information only. Council Member Ellinger. Thank you, Mayor. Although this one is for information only, I noticed that there were seven resignations, and all of them came from community corrections. And I didn't know if Mr. Septini was here, if he'd like to make a comment on this, on why we continually have issues with resignations out of community corrections. How can I count the ways? It's a very difficult place to work. We had a situation that we've lost, what, 100-plus employees. When I came back three months ago, we advertised for 50 employees, 50 new employees. We got 25. Something wrong when in the worst economy in how many years that we try to employ employees, and we only end up with half to even apply for the job. So there's some, you know, the corrections division is very needy at this point. We've had problems with use of force. We had five employees that went to federal prison. As it relates to the overtime, we've not gone over our budget. but we've had to use the overtime to make up for those employees that have left. We have many employees that find this job very difficult, and rightfully so. You know, you went through a labor issue and litigation that put many restrictions on the employees that work in community corrections. They have a half hour a day in a housing unit where they're supervising 80 or 80 people, and they get a half hour for lunch. They used to at least get a meal provided to them, and they don't anymore. So we've tried to shore up on some things, but it's been very difficult, and we have many more things to do. but we need the support of this community and this organization in order to move forward. You can't in three months undo what has been problematic for ten years. And we've tried to make some changes, but as you make changes, you create some anxiety and stress as you're doing that. So it's been very difficult. If you had suggestions, I could suggest some things. create your ODR and start feeding people instead of a half hour, giving them an hour for lunch. You're not losing those individuals that are in the auxiliary services cap in places like that. You're losing the line officers that are working in the housing units. And they're the ones that are stressed out. So as they leave, we create more vacancies that creates poor problem for those individuals. We try to remedy that problem with the overtime situation. We had 50 employees that were exempt from overtime. Those were the good jobs. It's the housing unit officers that were getting hit 16 hours a day, three times a week. That's what's creating your problems. So we're working on it, but it's going to get worse before it gets better. We have 23 or 24 people that are in training right now that will get out of training in a few weeks. That will help with the overtime. But basically, we've not spent an additional penny above the budget that you have approved for the year. Thank you, Mr. Sabatini. I want to make a comment on this. I appreciate the way that you first, for context, Council Member Ellinger and others had been asking questions. in the previous council, maybe up two, three years ago. So for context, I think that the attrition levels at the corrections facility had been considered to be symptomatic of issues. And so seeing continued attrition is something that is not expected. It's not unexpected that there would be questions about it. And so what I know myself from turnaround conditions, and I think you said it well, things will appear worse before they get better. And that is, anyone who's been through a turnaround knows that that is expected. Change creates stress. Not at the microphone, but the point you're making is in any management environment, change is going to create stress and anxiety, and you're going to see some impact of that, and it is often expressed through attrition. So does anyone else have a question about this? Council Member Stenet? Thank you, Mayor. Mr. Stenet, you made a statement about the budget, and you said you're out of your overtime budget. Is that correct? No, we're not out of our overtime. What I said was we have not spent, if you look at the overall budget and you take a look at the credit vacancies and you compare those to the overall budget, we are not going to go over our personnel budget. Now, we're using more on overtime, but you know you have posts. You have an assigned post, and you can't leave a post vacant. So every time you have a vacancy that is created, you have to use that overtime to staff that post. So it's not like you just forget the post. And we've gone from three months ago with 900 inmates plus to now close to 1,200. So we've had two housing units that were vacant. We now maybe have one some of the days of the week. That takes seven people more to staff that housing unit. So it's not like a contingent liability with other agencies of government. You have a post, and you have 80 inmates out there, and it has to be staffed. It's not we want to. It has to be staffed. Sure. No, I appreciate that, but in terms of just the overtime budget, how far through it are we? Not your overall budget, but just are we through the overtime? Are we almost there? No, we're probably 60% spent. Because we're not half a year into our budget yet, and that's my concern. We're more than half spent at this point, if not recorded. So do we have a plan if we do spend up all the overtime budget, what we'll do to staff? Because as you say, it's a critical need. No, you have credit vacancies because you have people. We had, what, seven people that have resigned? So are you going to take that money and do a budget amendment over to overtime? Is that how you're going to do it? Because you can't utilize vacancy credit for overtime. So how are you planning on doing that? We plan on that in the budget process, yes. Okay. I don't want you to be without overtime when you come to us. We can't be without break. We can't be without overtime. That's what I mean, and that's what I'm trying to get to. So when you see a need, don't wait while we're on Christmas break or while we're not here. Come to us. That's what I'm asking for. That's right. And say, hey, we need to shift money. We need more money. That way, next year, we can track the true number of what overtime really is costing us. So hopefully we'll have more people hired at that point so we won't have as many of those problems. But, you know, 10 years have created many changes in that organization. You know, just as an example, when we built that facility, we had a ratio of one officer for 64 inmates. We now have one officer for almost 80 inmates. So the stresses, the density of the population in there are creating problems for those officers. We talked about the ODR. We can't even give them a meal, a half hour break. You know, it's just not right. And then we talk about our contract negotiations and everything. You know, you can't negotiate civility. And we have officers out there that are very needy, and we need to change the way we're doing business or it's going to continue to decline. So that we put this all in context, I keep saying this. these are the issues, these are the organizational issues that you are working on. Absolutely. And during the time of working on these issues, you can expect tension and distress and anxiety and that to be reflected in some patterns, whether people choose to stay or not to stay with the enterprise, right? That's correct. Another thing that you pointed out is something that we see not just in the public sector but in the private sector as well today. Jobs are available, and we often don't have people with the skill sets to fill those needs. And they're not applying for those jobs. This is not unique to the public sector. It is a challenge in the private sector today as well. I think we need to be aware that it is a problem across the board. Our issues at the correctional facility may be more severe, and that's what you're working on to try to illustrate that to us. Is that a fair statement? They are more severe. Right, right. Significantly. Yeah. And I think we hear it's been a worthwhile conversation for us to hear this. Okay. Councilman Beard? Can I finish? I thought you were finished. No, I wasn't done. But I do agree with you on the cafeteria. I made the motion during the budget process to reopen it. It failed. Bring it again. But what I want to be clear about when I'm asking you, though, is if we need more overtime money, come to this body. We want to know about it. We don't want to wait until the last minute and put our workers in danger out there. And I wasn't real sure about that process at this point. Sure, no, that's fine. It's been 10 years, and there was a point at which, and statutorily within 441, which is the jailer statute, we still operate within 441, is when a budget was approved, if you had credit vacancies, then that personnel budget you were allowed to use overtime, you were allowed to use temporaries, you were allowed to use a variety of mechanisms as long as they were within the personnel budget. But that has changed in your process now. Thank you, sir. I appreciate the work you're doing, Annex, especially all the men and women out there, because they're the backbone of the operation. I know you're an intern director. I know that's tough, too, being in your shoes. But let us know what we need to do to help. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Beard. This is more a process question than anything else, and I'm not sure where these communications from the mayors are initiated. What I'm curious about, however, is that one individual is effective September 26th, and then there is a bunch of others sprinkled through there, and most recent, November 3rd. That's a 38-day span between those two individuals, and I'm just curious how that works or how it doesn't work. That may have been one of the individuals that was in training that has just been deployed. Could have been. I know we have that circumstance today that we have an employee within the training period that is basically we have to do something with. That may not be the circumstance. I need to know the person, and I need to know the time frame, and then I can check on it. But I do know that we have somebody that is in training, that has been in training for a couple months, and they will be being deployed within the next week, 28th, I think. This information, though, is initiated by you or by Human Resources or by the mayor's office? Human Resources. HR. Okay. Are you saying, Councilman Beard, that the timing of the notification? Yeah, I think what we've tried to do, you know, based on the past history, was it was sort of collected quarterly. We're collecting it more frequently than quarterly and notifying the council. What's wrong with every council meeting? You know, to the best of my knowledge, and I say routinely, I'm not a know-it-all. It didn't have to be the smartest kid in the class, and I don't know exactly or precisely how or when, but we'll get you that answer. How's that? Okay. That's fine. Okay. Great. Super. Anybody else? Councilman Martin. Thank you, Mayor. I know that the mayor has set up a task force to look at the correction facility, and I appreciate his leadership on that. The council itself referred this issue to the Public Safety Committee, and so I hope that the Public Safety Committee can take this up. I think this is a chronic issue that the council needs to be better aware of and to be able to sort of get into the issue and to understand what the needs are and what the problems are, and that's a good place to do that. I'd personally like the Public Safety Committee to maybe come out and meet at the facility. Absolutely. I think probably the most advantageous thing we could do would be to have everybody come out and sit down with us for a couple hours and go over the basic elements of corrections and what our needs are, what the constitutional, what your statutory requirements are, so there can be a better understanding of what it takes to run the facility and what everybody's responsibilities are. And, again, I appreciate the mayor getting experts together to work on this, but since we have a decision-making sort of role in this as well, I think it's good if we got together and sort of got closer to this problem. So I'm sorry to make you stand for so long. I can't do it. So I know Council Member Lawless is the head of that, and perhaps she will try to bring this forward in the near future. But thank you. Thank you, Mayor. All right, sir. Thank you. Any other questions for Mr. Sabatini? Council Member Henson. I just had a comment. Thank you. I did go out and meet with Mr. Sabatini and Glenn Brown and all of his, I guess they're not commanders, but. Our management staff. Yes. Yes. And they did a very good presentation, gave you a good understanding of where we are, how we might be affected by House Bill 463. 463. and also I would encourage any of you to go out there spend some time with them I'm actually planning on just going back and popping in on each shift and talk to the employees let them let them know that we are here and we're working the best we can and I would like to see as many stay as possible and hang in there because things are tough And I expressed all my concerns to Mr. Sabatini. And I think that him as an interim director and a lot of changes coming about, you know, from everything that he explained to me, it all makes perfect sense. I'm not an expert in corrections, but from a business standpoint, it made sense. but changes now and then when a new director does come in, hopefully there will be something in place that these employees won't have the anxiety of having many more changes from the new directors. And I think that has been the objective is to make some changes so we can stabilize the organization and it has taken a lot to do that and it's been very stressful for everybody including our management staff because it's not easy to make changes. But, you know, I agree that when we see this many resignations, and I told you that, I would expect some resignations with, you know, the changing of the guards. You would expect some resignations, but I felt like what I would have seen was excessive. and it's got to be a very, very difficult job. But thank you. Thank you. All right. Does anyone else wish to speak? All right. Thank you, Mr. Sabatine. Okay. Council Member Lawless. Thank you, and I know that you've put a lot into trying to right the ship and came into a very problematic situation. One of the suggestions that was made, and I don't know, I mean, I hear your concern for the corrections officers and working overtime and having a half an hour for a meal and it's not provided and really looking out for their needs, and I really respect and appreciate that. But one of the things that I think would be extremely helpful is to have an opportunity for the non-commander, non-management staff to have the opportunity to do an online survey about what their needs are. what would make them feel more likely to stay. Sometimes it can be really simple things that make a big difference, and we can make those assumptions, but having them and HR has the ability to... We would welcome that. I mean, we've already done it. Before I got here, they did it, and they're pretty much the same issues that we're dealing with today. But any time, you know, I have an open-door policy. That's why I get out of here at 6, then I go home and have dinner, and then I work until midnight most nights. And you can testify to that because you've had me on the phone and on e-mail on those hours. That's right, because I'm doing the same thing. That's the same thing. But the point is, any time we can have some feedback, it is good. We welcome it. And I think not only do you gain information from the feedback, you gain a sense of feeling respected and heard and that we want to know. So if there could be another anonymous survey monkey, I think is what they call it, put together where they can anonymously weigh in on it, I think that would be really helpful. and also let them know that we want to hear from them, you want to hear from them, HR wants to hear from them, and, you know, sometimes you get great ideas that are really simple and inexpensive. So I would encourage that if you could pull that together. Thank you so much. Councilman Myers. Thank you, Mayor. I just have a couple things. Thank you for coming in, Mr. Sabatini. these guys are represented by a union for the most part. Where are we at in collective bargaining? In the middle of negotiations with both unions or at least one union at this point, the sergeants and below are in negotiation right now. I don't follow the negotiation. In fact, I've not sat in. I've not been briefed with my interim status and with the number of things that are going on organizationally, I try to focus on trying to make those systemic and organizational changes that are necessary that don't impact the collective bargaining. The other things that do impact are those things that I talked about on basic civility issues that I think we really don't need collective bargaining to deal with. We need to resolve some things so that employees feel like they're welcome here and that we can resolve some of their problems. And we've not done that in the past administrations. These people are hurting. So when you talk about the half-hour lunch and no meal provided, those kind of things, are those things that you can be handled outside of collective bargaining, or is that a part of collective bargaining? I don't know. What I'm doing is trying to advise you of the things that I think are necessary to shore this up so that we don't experience the turnover that we're experiencing right now. Right. So I'm trying to understand, though, if that's part of collective bargaining and that's not something that we're going to be able to handle here. It could be. I don't know because I'm not in that. I'm not briefed with it. Let me ask you this. You've brought that up as a real issue that needs to be addressed. So can someone find out if that's a part of collective bargaining or not? I'm sure the commissioner can. Okay. If it's not, then can we expect a recommendation from you? There are non-economic issues that are being addressed in collective bargaining. I think what we're hearing from Mr. Sabatini is that he is working on a lot of these issues himself and where they are impacted by collective bargaining, then he will coordinate that effort. That's what I'm hearing. Let me give you an example. Yesterday we put out an operational order that in the past ten years, somehow, somewhere, we have been required to have four times the number of observations by officers in the housing units than the state requires. Now, if you're working 16 hours a day and four times an hour, you have to walk up in those tiers to watch people that you can see through the glazing above, it made sense to change that so we reduced the stress on officers. That didn't require collective bargaining. That required looking at a policy that needed changing, and we changed it yesterday. Okay. I'm speaking specifically to the ones that you brought to us. When you talk about a half-hour lunch, you talk about the bill not being provided, those things around civility. So my question is, will you find out which of those things are impacted by collective bargaining, which are not? And if they're not, we would expect, I guess, some type of recommendation from you if it's something this body needs to deliberate on sooner rather than later so that we can go ahead and do that and take care of it. I'll talk with the commissioner and have that information for you. Okay, thank you. My second question is for Council Member Lawless, the Chair of Public Safety. Can you give us a date on which this issue is going to come up? I know that I've got Paul working on some research. He's got a lot of it done. We've got some other additional research that we're doing. It's been in committee for several months. I was just wondering if you could give us a date when it's going to come up on the docket. Well, the docket has been very full, and there's still several things that are unresolved. The CAP program was on the docket for Thursday or Tuesday, but we didn't get to it because the noise ordinance was pretty noisy. so I think what we're going to need to do is have feedback first of all from the task force I think we put this in committee before the task force was formed and we need to go ahead and deal with it in our committee separate from the task force and I think if you go back and look at that meeting it was discussed that the task force might be formed and that there were two separate paths that could be followed. And so I would not be in favor of waiting to hear from the task force before this goes through committee. And the other thing I would add to that is when you look at the CAP program and the transportation piece that are in committee right now, and I communicated with you in an email the other day, it would seem that if at the end of the day the sheriff was the person that ended up operating the jail, then those two would fall under her anyway. So it seems to me if we took the bigger issue and put that first in committee, those other two would fall in place. Well, and I'm willing to do that. The committee is going to have to be willing to have several special meetings because it isn't going to be one two-hour meeting. Would you be in favor of holding off on the cap and the transportation and just dealing with the other issue that's in committee? Well, the reason my primary concern on the CAP program and the reason it was put in by the links, the public safety links, is that during the transition team meeting, and everybody has agreed that the way it's being operated, are you? That's what I'm asking. Are we talking or am I talking? I'm just trying to figure out how long the dialogue is going to go on so we can manage it. Okay. Is that the way the CAP program is run is extraordinarily dangerous and that it endangers the employees and the public, and it's very expensive and being underutilized. With the new House Bill 453, it may also increase the number. So that, to me, safety is a very critical and primary issue, and putting off something that is a life safety issue is not acceptable for me. Okay, then could I just ask in an effort to move this forward, if you would go ahead and schedule a special meeting to address the CAP, the transportation, and operation of the jail? Yeah, and not so much the transportation, but the CAP program. And like I say, we don't have another meeting until the first week in January when we come back, the first week we come back. and I looked at the calendar today about when we could put in a special meeting. And so it's going to have to be on a day other than a Tuesday if it's done in January. Can I make a suggestion then that you'll, as chair, you're going to consider this and you're going to make a recommendation as to when it can be put into committee? Yes. All right? Does that satisfy the question? Excellent. Great. Thanks. Does anybody else have any questions? Commissioner, do you wish to speak? I just wanted to say one thing about the half-an-hour lunch issue, which I'll find out more about before the next session. And I was not here during when it was going on, but I think there was a lawsuit that related to employees having to eat lunch at their desk, lunch on the run. I think it was about, so I think some of the half-an-hour lunch issues might relate to things that occurred in that lawsuit. And so I'll find out that for you before the next time we come here. Thank you very much, Commissioner. All right. Thank you, Mr. Sabatini. Thank you. All right. Thanks for the chair. Yes, sir. Next on our agenda is announcements. Excuse me, Mayor. Is this for, that's what I thought this was for. Or is this for, do you want to speak to this question? I had a question about one of the resolutions I wanted to answer. Do you want to do it under another area? Pardon? I have a question about a resolution, number 11. Oh, you're going back to resolution? I just want to get some information on it. Okay, great. Okay, John Shee, could you? We're going to, the Chair's going to make an exception. Mr. Lane wants to ask a question about resolution. We've already voted on it. I understand that. I'm not going to ask him for a vote. I just wanted some information. What's the question? It's resolution number 13 regarding. So you asked John Sheed to Mr. Baradar. That's for the Black and Williams Center energy efficiency improvements for $426,000. And I wondered if you could tell me the scope of the work and the source of the funding on that. The source of funding is our funding that was awarded to LFECG. I believe the total was close to about $2 million. It's been handled by environmental quality, directly dealing with energy issues, and initiatives that can be done in reduction of energy usage in all the buildings. We identified Black and Williams as well as Dunbar Community Center for the two projects. Dunbar is underway as we speak. Black and Williams should be, I would think, probably in about four to eight weeks. We should be able to go on and get started on those. Its primary goal is to remove, replace, upgrade any systems within the building that has to do with environmental control. In this case, primarily would be removal of the old boiler that's way beyond its useful life, as well as installation of a new HVAC system, as well as programmable controllers and building automation system. Thank you very much. Sure. All right. Now we'll move to announcements. Council Member Blues. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to extend my congratulations, and I hope I could speak on behalf of the Council in this regard to a former colleague of mine at the University of Kentucky English Department, Nikki Finney, who was awarded yesterday the National Book Award for Poetry. This is a very distinguished national honor. And whenever we have an achievement like this, whether in the arts, the humanities, or the sciences, we know that we're dealing with the kind of recognition that really matters for a university. So, again, my congratulations to Nicky. This is a signal achievement, and I think we should all be proud of it. It's a real triumph for our university community. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. I think it is remarkable. Mr. Stenet. Thank you, Mayor. I want to, we have two more work sessions and two more council meetings left before we go on our traditional Christmas break. And I think it would be appropriate at one of those meetings that we have an update on our public safety situation. We just heard from the jail, and that gives thought to our police and fire. Because as we all have heard, at the end of the year we'll have a lot of retirements in each. And what we'll do to cover the staffing and what the plan will be. I know we all got an email tonight about potential brownouts in the fire department. I don't know if that's true or not, but I think, Mayor, if we could have a presentation about what our plan will be going into the new year so that as we're on break we can have an opportunity to think about what we need to do. Because I know two years ago we came back early on Christmas break, I think, to address that issue. And I don't want to get in that situation this year if we do indeed have a staff shortage coming up. So if we could get just an update. I know we had one back in August, but before we go on break, it would be helpful. All right. We'll work to see if we can arrange that. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Mr. Martin. Thank you, Mayor. And I guess on a similar note, perhaps Mr. O'Meara can bring us sort of a budget reduction plan and help us understand how short are we for the year and what the administration's sort of plan on for sort of tackling the budget for the rest of the year. This is typically the time of year where we start looking at all those pennies, and I know the administration's been very hard on that, and we appreciate that, so we can sort of take a look at that. I'm asking Mr. O'Meara for more details about how we're going to pull it in. And as far as just a council report, I appreciate Troop 279 sitting there patiently, the Boy Scouts on the south side, and listening to all the different resolutions and ordinances being read is a tough thing. And at least I got my son to quit pulling his eyelids down on TV. So anyway, I appreciate them being here tonight. So thank you, Mayor. Yes, sir. Thank you. Not embarrassed. All right. Mr. Farmer. Thank you, Mayor. First, I did want to just briefly dovetail back to comments of Mr. Sabatini and Councilmember Stennett. Because at the first of the year, the state's going to release a lot of folks. And some of those are shifting the burden to local corrections folks. And we just want to be ready for that. It's kind of an unfortunate thing. The point of one of the task forces you were kind of maybe a part of, but we just want to be ready. I just want to ask you about the email that the chief of police sent last Friday. Did that brewed up inside the house, or had you seen that email before he sent it? It just seemed like it came late on a Friday afternoon at a surprise time. well there's things that occur i guess that way mr farmer sometimes and then we try to deal with them as best we can all right i mean and i appreciate there's a lot of moving parts oh i i in this in this in this government and you know it perhaps even better than i do you've been around it a lot longer than i have i wouldn't say that mayor i just i just know that uh From the human standpoint, the police, as the other services, and the rest of the government, are kind of reeling from some of the changes that have been wrought on by this budget and this time. These are difficult and demanding times, and we need to be as sympathetic as you suggest, and I agree with you entirely. And it's just like Mr. Sabatini was saying, that these are times that challenge us. These are times that cause stress and anxiety. And we need to do as much as we can to relieve that. And I think that's what the chief does. That's what you try to do. That's what I try to do. I just think specifically, though, that email raised anxiety in the thinnest of blue lines we've had in a long time. And I realize there's all kinds of reasons for that to have been sent. and for it to be part of a weekend discussion and a Monday press conference, but I think that it also had an emotional toll on the people who we depend upon daily. And that's just really my only point there. Yes, sir. I appreciate it. Thank you, Mayor. That's one of the welcome opportunities we have in this forum is to express a point of view and a concern, just as you have, that I suspect that we all share. Thank you, sir. My pleasure. Yep. Council Member Henson. Thank you, Mayor. I wanted to thank the Public Safety Fire Department for putting on the fire academy. Commissioner Mills and I are partners, and we were flying high above the sky in that bucket on the ladder truck, and I just enjoyed that so much, and I just wanted to thank everyone. It gave me a better understanding of how the fire department works, and I learned some, I thought I knew everything, or most everything, but I learned some new things and that's a good thing. So I really enjoyed it. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Henson. And Chief Jackson said that we can count on another one, so we have another shot at it, another chance. Council Member McCourt. Thank you, Mayor. Just real quickly, I wanted to congratulate Wellington Elementary School in the 9th District today. I appreciate you being there, Mayor, for the ribbon-cutting of their new playground. It's a great testament to the PTA and the parents and the teachers and so forth that are involved in that school and the leadership under Mary Beth Gaines as their principal to have gotten a $50,000 grant from Pepsi to help make that playground a reality. And so, again, I just wanted to congratulate them. And, again, I appreciate you being there today, Mayor, as well as everybody else that had come out. Well, you did a great job out there, Council Member McCord. You got the kids really enthusiastic. They were excited. Council Member Martin. Thank you, Mayor. And Council Member Henson, it is reminding me about the last Saturday. I had so much work since Saturday. It seems like a year away, but it was really a great day, and it just helped us understand how unbelievably complex what the fire department does. You think they're just standing with a hose and pointing at the building. It is just infinitely beyond that. And, you know, I tell you, climbing up a 40-foot ladder is a, you know, you just got to go. Just go, go. But I appreciate their hospitality. I appreciate their sharing their expertise and helping us understand better what we vote on and the types of equipment they use and the types of needs they have. So some of the best jambalaya I've ever had. So thank you, Mayor. So, Councilman Lawless. Thank you. I have a couple of things that are administration-type things, suggestions. And one of them is I got a very angry email from somebody that was stuck in traffic when the water main broke. And a similar situation when the convention center had that big thing and traffic was tied up. But I answered him and I said, do you have any suggestions? And one of the suggestions he had was that people be able to sign up like they do for the weather alerts. and that probably the police would be, you know, somebody could send a text saying there's a wreck on, you know, New Circle Road, traffic's tied up for an extended period of time so people would know to avoid those areas because by the time it gets out to the public with a news release or whatever, you're already sitting in it. I was talking to Council Member Crosby yesterday, and she got stuck behind three different wrecks in one day. And I said, the good news is that you weren't in them. But, you know, those things are unexpected. That's not what traffic engineering does. But it seemed like you could sign up to get a text or a phone call if there is a traffic situation that is unexpected like that, so people know to avoid it and less congestion. So that's a suggestion that I'd like to throw out there if the administration would consider looking at that. and I want to thank Mr. Wilson for giving that suggestion. The other issue is a new state law was passed, went into effect July 1 of this year, dealing with people who sell precious metals and that they have to get a photo ID and a driver's license. They need to copy a photo ID, get the license plate off the truck, and now that information is available to law enforcement within 24 hours. And it's statewide. So we have had such a rash of people stealing copper plumbing, air conditionings, a lot of churches and nonprofits. And in one of my neighborhoods, they've gone around and stolen people's extension cords for the copper. and sometimes it will cost several thousand dollars to replace what they get maybe $25 for. And it seems to be increasing, I guess, with hard times. But there's something in place now that if our law enforcement, if Chief Bastin and the folks from the surrounding counties could communicate, they have to sell it somewhere. And if there's a record of who's selling it and they have it in 24 hours, it seems it would cut down on that process. So, again, this seems like an administrative thing, not any kind of ordinance or anything we need to pass, but just an administrative policy to get together with the other counties and work together. all that being said a lot's going on the ice rink is opening and the tree lighting ceremony there's the Morris bookshop open house on Saturday council member Blues beat me to the punch on Nikki Finney who is a constituent of mine and congratulations to her gallery hop is this weekend you can go to downtownlex.com to get a list of many of these activities so get out there and shop local alright Thank you, Councilman Lawless. I don't have anybody else signed up. Two announcements. One, this is, as many of you all know, this is National Alzheimer's Awareness Month, and our own Vice Mayor, Isabel Yates, was in the building today to accept a proclamation naming this as National Alzheimer's Awareness Month in Lexington. I see our Commissioner Beth Mills here, whose team in social services has been really reaching out and doing a great job with our seniors and families who are dealing and working through these challenges themselves. And, Beth, we want to thank you for that. And a quick shout-out to Susan Lamb, our council clerk. Look at those. She's surprised by this. Someone told me that Susan has earned the designation of Master Municipal Clerk, which is given by the International Institute of Municipal Clerks, and what that means is that she has been recognized for a record of outstanding contributions to local government. So congratulations, Susan. I'll now open the floor to public comment. I have three citizens signed up for public comment. One is Geneva Mitchell. Is Geneva still here? Geneva, she's not still here. Barry Marshall is Mr. Marshall. Mr. Marshall is here. All right, sir. Yes, sir. As I said, my name is Barry Marshall. I'm with the American Postal Workers Union here in Lexington. And I'm sure most of you are probably aware that the Postal Service is planning on shutting down the mail processing operations in Lexington. It's our understanding that they're going to meet with the council at some point and brief you on their plans. I don't know if they've done that. They're not telling us a whole lot. They haven't even shared with us the results of the study, really, that he supposedly did. But from what we've heard, it appears, and I sent a letter to Mayor Gray. I don't know if you've gotten it yet. It appears that the information that they're putting forth, they're trying to soft sell it to make it look like there are fewer employees impacted than there actually are. The truth of the matter is, they're about to a loss of about 280 people in the Lexington Post Office, which is going to mean a significant loss of money that's eligible to be spent in the community with businesses, a significant loss of city tax income, a significant loss of school tax income. For people who do business mailings, it's going to increase the cost of their mailings. They're in the process of changing the delivery standards, which will allow them to delay delivery of mail. There is a public hearing scheduled for next Monday week, the 28th, at the Fayette County School Building on Main Street. We would certainly appreciate the support of the community and any support the council could give us. We don't want to lose these people. Some of them are going to wind up probably having to go to Louisville or to Knoxville, wind up having to sell their homes. Some of them will be probably laid off and wind up losing their homes for foreclosure. I know that's going around the country these days, but any help you all could give us, we'd certainly appreciate it. We've contacted Governor Beshear and Representative Chandler, if anybody has any influence with them. Certainly anything we can do. In my letter I sent to Mr. Cray, he's got my name and address and phone number. So any information that you might need or that we can help you with, we'd certainly be glad to provide it to you. Thank you for your time. Thanks, Mr. Marshall. and Mr. Bernard McCarthy. Your Honor and members of the Council, first off, I think Ordinance No. 6 was a step in the wrong direction, that you shouldn't be closing pathways and giving away public right-of-way, no matter what the excuse. We need to make places more connected, not less. More importantly, I think if you want to change our one-way streets into two-way streets, that would be a far more drastic mistake that would really snarl traffic badly. We don't have enough capacity as it is. We desperately need more, and you shouldn't be throwing away what little we have. But the other thing is, I've heard on the news that you are planning on paying a consultant to study it. Hey, if you've already made up your minds that you're going to do something come hell or high water, no matter how much problem you cause for members of the traveling public, what is the point of wasting our tax money paying a consultant to study it first? I mean, that seems to me a waste. Likewise, all these so-called streetscape projects, also, in my way of thinking, are a waste of tax money. So escaping our streets does not improve their traffic handling capabilities and in some cases messes up their ability to handle traffic. I think that we need to be adding to our street capacity, not subtracting from it. and toward that end I will also suggest that you ought to extend 5th Street from where it ends now all the way through to Newtown Pike that might not make up for what you're wanting to do inside of downtown but give us some connections outside the downtown area and as more areas get redeveloped try to connect up more of the streets and the real thing I don't see how anyone thinks they're going to attract customers to their businesses by making it harder for those customers to get there that goes totally against common sense but what really killed the downtown businesses was malls offer free parking and they stay open later I'm not going to burn vacation time to go shopping unless I'm going to do my shopping where I would have gone on vacation anyway. Thank you, Mr. McCarthy. No one else has signed up. Before the meeting closes, I want to thank everybody for being here, and especially Troop 279. Thank you all. All right. There's a motion to adjourn by Councilman Ellinger, second by Councilman Martin. All in favor, please say aye. We are adjourned.